This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The Biological Specimens and Genetics (BSG) Core provides key services necessary to facilitate collaborative investigations between geneticists, statisticians, epidemiologists, psychologists, and community leaders that are aimed at understanding the interaction of obesity-related risk factors in Yup'ik Eskimos. Additionally, the BSG core provides valuable community, and state-wide services related to the ethical conduct of culturally respectful genetic studies in rural Alaska Native communities. The BSG Core accomplishes these objectives by advising new investigators on the role of heredity in disease etiology, and on the ascertainment of familial relationships using methods that maximize the privacy of participating and non-participating community members. The BSG Core ensures that biological samples are processed to retain sample integrity and stored in a secure facility, and maintains a specimen database to manage and track samples shipped to collaborating laboratories. In addition, the BSG Core provides genotyping expertise to new investigators and students. Finally, the BSG Core will establish a Community Advisory Board that will meet annually, and partner with a National Genetics Advisory Board to establish ethical procedures for the collection and use of biological samples, as well as the dissemination of genetic results using a community-based participatory research framework. The design of the BSG Core is based on our experiences and use of the Genetics Core in phase I of the CANHR study, and on the stated health priorities of our community partners and Tribal Elders.